Bridge Between Time : Photos
by Kage-Ichihashi
Summary: [Post Zabuza Arc]It was with the flip of a page in his book when it happened. His spine shot straight up, he stood completely still, his hair raised on end, and his senses became unintentionally alert...He couldn't pin his finger on it.  Not by a long sho
1. The Mission

"_**Photos**__ are a gateway through __**Time**__ for the __**Retrieval**__ of lost __**Memories**__"_

**"Photos"**

A Naruto Fanfiction

**Rating: T/PG-13 for Violence and Suggestive Themes**

**Acknowledgements/Dedications:** _My best friends, voices10 and DayinTynSane for their all-around support and help with this entire series. If not for them, my fanfiction would have been doomed, without a doubt._

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own the characters of Kishimoto Masashi's _"Naruto"_. I do not claim them as my own in the legal sense. All rights reserved and so on._

**Author's Note: **_This is the FINAL time I have revised "Photos". This time, it has taken a great turn. You will notice, if you were originally a reader, that the chapters have been changed drastically._

**Prologue: The Mission**

It was with the flip of a page in his book when it happened. His spine shot straight up, he stood completely still, his hair raised on end, and his senses became unintentionally alert. He looked around, as if expecting to see whatever it was that caused his actions, but he couldn't find anything. He was in the middle of the road, his book lowered down to his side, with everyday people going about their business around him. A single bead of sweat ran down his face as he recalled the feeling he'd had. He couldn't pin his finger on it. Not by a long shot.

After a few more moments of contemplating it, he finally shook his head, trying to wave it off. He decided to go on ahead and meet his team then, since he was already late. They were supposed to meet in front of the Hokage's office, and so he turned around and headed back towards his destination.

· · ·

"Kakashi," the Hokage said. "I'd like to speak with you alone."

'_Oh no_,' Kakashi thought. '_Nearly a month from our mission with the Tazuna-san, and I'm being asked to speak with him alone… What did Naruto do _this_ time?'_

"But-" Naruto began to demand, as it was his usual instinct to refuse to be excluded from anything.

"Go on," Kakashi told his team, waving his hand carelessly away.

Sasuke and Sakura dragged Naruto from the room, and they were soon after followed by the councilors. "You too, Iruka," said the Hokage, turning to the Academy teacher who was practically his aide.

"But-" the man began to protest.

"This is for Kakashi's ears only," he told Iruka. "You are dismissed."

Reluctantly, the Chunnin left, and Kakashi and the Hokage were the only ones in the silent room. "Kakashi, I want to speak with you about your next mission."

"Okay," Kakashi said calmly, though he was truthfully relieved Naruto hadn't set any fire or caused damage to the village since their return.

"This mission is more of a…_personal_ mission," the Hokage said, taking on a more familiar tone with the Jounin. "You see, there are three of Konoha's ninja – a Jounin and their two Genin students – but they live outside of the village… It's been more than a month since I have last heard from them… I'm worried something has happened to them… It was planned that, in the upcoming year, the Academy was to take full custody of the two Genin because they are in _latent _danger..." He stressed the word "latent" purposefully. "I am asking you to take your team outside of the village for a month or so. Do not abandon the forest line unless necessary, just stay in the forest for a month and report back to me any signs of what happened or if you meet them."

"Sounds simple enough…but why me?" Kakashi asked, succeeding to sound more curious than wary, even though he felt the balance of both on his chest.

The Hokage smiled at the young man. "If you meet them, you'll see, but, even if you do not, you will learn…"

Kakashi sighed disappointingly. "All right. We'll take the mission."

"Good. I wish you luck then. You are dismissed." He waved his hand, and Kakashi stepped out the door to find his students – or at least two of them – arguing.

"Naruto!" Sakura was growling, holding the blond in a firm headlock. "You shouldn't be eavesdropping! That's rude!"

"You know you want to know, too! Now let go!" Naruto snapped in return.

Kakashi sighed once more. "Is there ever a time when you two can act like you're not married?" he muttered more to himself than them.

"_Whaaat_?" roared Sakura, dropping her hold on Naruto.

"Now, now," Kakashi told her, holding up his hands defensively. "I was just kidding. The three of you need to get packed for about a month's trip. I'll fill you in on what details of the mission I can when we meet at the village gates. Goodbye." With that, the silver-haired man disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

· · ·

Kakashi looked around his apartment room thoroughly. The feeling from earlier on the road had returned, but it was definitely weaker than before. He had been trying to ignore it, but when he had packed his things, he could no longer fight it off. He rubbed the back of his head, curious at what was going on. "Maybe I forgot something…" he mumbled to himself, eyeing his room a fourth time. His eyes caught his desk, lingering there for just enough seconds for him to step forward towards it. He opened the first drawer, his eyebrow furrowed in sheer confusion. He carefully lifted its contents until he reached the bottom, only to find a picture frame with a photo placed inside of it. He blinked, growing more confused, as he picked up the picture and shut the drawer, dropping the contents back in place.

He leaned against the desk absentmindedly and stared at the picture in his hands. He could barely remember ever having it. In fact, he was sure that the photo was possibly seventeen or eighteen years old. He looked at it carefully, studying the scene with a critical eye. '_Could this be what was bothering me all day?'_ he wondered as some of the unsettling feeling seemed to ebb away in some sort of satisfaction.

The photo depicted a clear night sky with a full silver moon etched in its darkness, and the stars were few at this specific angle. Shadows were cast by leafless trees on a light snow of silver sheets. The faint reflection of the moon was seen on the glistening surface, and it was visible that a soft wind had blown the bare trees to the right.

Kakashi continued to stare at the photograph, contemplating its very purpose. He wasn't sure where he'd gotten it, nor why he had it. To top that off, he couldn't explain the strange familiarity and longing the photo held for him. It left him completely calm, but he wished deeply that he could find the answer to the question why he forgot about it.

When he realized he was going to be later than usual, he finally decided that he was either having an off day or a memory lapse. He turned back around to put it back, but he stopped once he opened the drawer. He blinked, staring at his reluctant hand and then glancing at the picture again. "Okay…" he muttered, shutting the drawer and walking over to his bag. He carefully placed it inside, and stepped towards the door. Once he was sure he wouldn't stop before he reached the knob by some supernatural force, he walked out and left to meet his team.

· · ·

Earlier that morning, at the Ichiraku, a lone man sat in utter silence, unnoticed by the owner and his daughter…

Ayame looked up from the dishes she was washing to see the man sitting silently at the bar, his fingers weaved together with his nose pressed against his thumbs. "Oh, hello," she greeted kindly. "May I help you?"

The man looked up from his brooding position. "Perhaps," he said, his voice edged with a misty air. "I'm wondering about a boy named Uzumaki Naruto."

Ayame looked at the man with a furrowed brow in surprise. "Er… What about him?"

The man forced her eyes into his, keeping a strict contact with her orbs. His eyes were a cold hazel – a knowing hazel. She gulped. All of a sudden, the man chuckled light-heartedly. "My old friend Umino Iruka had told me of him. I was just wondering how the boy was doing. If Iruka-san has thought so highly of the boy to tell me, then I was hoping to learn more about him from the people in this village. I was told he quite liked this ramen shop, so that is how I knew where to come."

Ayame sighed. If anyone knew Iruka, they couldn't be all that bad, and they certainly weren't untrustworthy. "I'm sorry. Naruto-kun is one of our best customers and a delightful boy. I couldn't help but be a bit worried."

"That is all right, ma'am," the man said, unweaving his fingers and setting them on the countertop. "Tell me, though, how is the boy doing? In his ninja work and everything you know." Despite his now more light-hearted demeanor, his voice was deep – business-like – and it was still cold. His eyes, as well, did not even lessen from their knowing air, but Ayame seemed naïve to that fact as she began to think of the boy.

"From what Iruka-san has told me, and-" She lifted her hand to her mouth as she chuckled lightly to herself. "-what he says when he's here, he's making progress. He was on a mission in Nami no Kuni with his team and came back successfully. It was his first 'exciting' mission. He was so thrilled to have gone on such a task."

Her voice took on a more serious tone. "He does seem a lot stronger, though. He's matured some as well…" She let out a small, silvery sigh. "He's always been a sweet boy, despite…" She caught herself before she said it.

The man nodded. "What happened twelve years ago. I know."

She bowed her head sadly. Then the man asked another question. "How long ago did he go to Nami no Kuni?"

"It was about a month ago. Yes. Nearly a month without our prized customer…" said a man, walking forth to the bar.

The man looked up at the shop owner. "Thank you, Sir," he said breathlessly. '_So he _was_ one of the Genin…'_

"Good morning A-" came a voice from behind the man. Iruka stopped beside the seat the mystery man sat in. "Oh, I'm sorry. Hello."

The man stood up and only nodded at Iruka. "Thank you again," he told Ayame and her father, giving them both a stern look with his cold hazel eyes. With that, he left the Ichiraku as Iruka turned to them.

"Who was that?" he asked.

"Y-You mean, you didn't know him?" Ayame asked anxiously.

"No… Was I supposed to?"


	2. Your Strongest Student

"_**Photos**__ are a gateway through __**Time**__ for the __**Retrieval**__ of lost __**Memories**__"_

**"Photos"**

A Naruto Fanfiction

**Rating: T/PG-13 for Violence and Suggestive Themes**

**Acknowledgements/Dedications:** _My best friends, voices10 and DayinTynSane for their all-around support and help with this entire series. If not for them, my fanfiction would have been doomed, without a doubt._

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters of Kishimoto Masashi's "Naruto". I do not claim them as my own in the legal sense. All rights reserved and so on.

**Chapter One: Your Strongest Student**

'_It's really not normal for me to sneak off like this. Usually, Akamori-san is the troublemaker. But then again, this shouldn't be considered such a trouble. Ichihashi-sensei is a strong believer in "true calling". "Whenever you feel the wind calling you: go. When the fire wishes for you to dance with it: do so. When the mountain desires to be climbed, when the waves call you to follow: go and do so," she had told us. And this _is_ a calling. A calling at one in the morning, but a calling nonetheless.'_

Kuroinsei forced herself to be convinced by these thoughts as she clutched her kunai until her knuckles were visible in the charcoal-like darkness of the forest at one o' clock in the morning. Vast and immobile shadows were cast about, causing the extreme darkness.

She scanned the area that was seemingly vacant in the obscurity, but she was able to use her sense of hearing to heed the flipping of a book. Kuroinsei pinned the location of the sound in a heartbeat and whispered something under her breath.

'_ICHA ICHA PARADAISU__?!?!'_

She about fell over from reading the cover. _'Ichihashi-sensei wouldn't care if this were a calling or not with _that_ book.'_ She considered her options for a moment._ '… I'd better make this quick.'_

Kuroinsei jumped in front of the one reading the book and demanded in a menacing tone that she had no control over using, "Where is your best fighter?"

The man dropped his book to hold onto the tree out of total shock. "What?" he questioned as he struggled with his grip, growing only a little annoyed that he couldn't continue his reading.

"Your best student. I wish to fight them," Kuroinsei demanded again with a clarification.

He stared into the blackness, spotting two silver eyes that held a single red ring within each of them looking back at him. "Who are you?" he asked, now secure on the branch.

"If I speak my name, will you fetch him or her?"

The man straightened himself up. "Yes."

"I am Kuroinsei."

The man was silent for a moment, but then he jumped down from the tree, picked up his book, and looked back up at the girl, even though he still could not see her. "Come on then."

Kuroinsei quickly followed, and the man led her to a boy. She stopped as the man walked to his student and woke him up. The boy stood up, grabbing his weapons after the sensei whispered to him, and the man led the two to a clearing where a lake provided reflection by the small speck of moon that could only now be seen.

"Kakashi," the boy began to ask the man as he saw the girl. "Are you-"

"She wishes to fight my best, and that is you, Sasuke," the man answered frankly, sitting down a distance away with his book.

Sasuke looked over his opponent. She was short – shorter than Naruto –and she was not developed like other girls. "How old _are_ you?" he asked her in bewilderment.

She clenched her teeth. "Thirteen," she answered. "Whenever you're ready…"

Sasuke didn't believe it. She barely looked it. She had long, flaming red hair, and her right set of bangs that flipped out to the side covered her eye partly. She wore a navy blue tank-top shirt with gray shoulder pads that curved into a tip at her biceps. Her pants were dark brown, and two dark blue shuriken holsters were positioned upon each thigh. Her sandaru were gray like her shoulder pads, two identically colored wristbands were worn, and a matching bandana was wrapped around her neck with the hitai-ate plate of Konoha located on it in front.

The one thing that stood out about her most, though, was her expression. Sasuke couldn't put his finger on it, but it was different than what he was used to. Then it hit him; no _girl_ had ever looked at him as an opponent. She wasn't normal; he could feel that as though some intimidating aura struck his spine as he looked her in the eye. Silver with red rings. Cold silver and dark red. He was sure that if he looked hard enough, he'd see the essence of death itself, hidden beneath its captivating glare that he would have stared into for hours had he the choice and the chance.

She reached for the kunai she'd placed away momentarily to not scare off the sensei in thinking she wished to kill him or his students. "If you're ready," Kuroinsei said to him impatiently.

Sasuke shot one last glance at Kakashi as the girl broke the eye contact for a split second. "Right," he said hoarsely; he didn't realize his throat had gone so dry, so he gulped to moisten it. Taking his stance, he looked back at the girl, though he avoided her eyes directly.

No matter… He'd make it quick and less humiliating for her. He _definitely_ would not go easy on her _or_ waste his time.

· · ·

A skilled ninja should know how to deceive those around him, and that was precisely what Hatake Kakashi was doing at the moment. Despite the fact that he _would _rather be reading, he did have a mission to work on at hand, so he knew it would have to wait. Holding his book as if his attention had returned to it, he withdrew a pen and began to scribble down a few notes on the girl.

_Kuroinsei_

_Age: 13_

_Genin?_

_Silver eyes with red rings inside_

_Flaming red hair_

He read over his observations and then returned his attention to the two. Sasuke was staring at the girl with wide eyes. Kuroinsei was grinding her teeth impatiently as he stared. It seemed as though Sasuke had lost track of time, because he wouldn't stop staring, but despite her irritation, she was letting the time pass.

Kakashi took the time to think over a few more things. He could clearly remember her voice. It was dark, deep within her throat. It wasn't exactly common for a girl of her stature and age. Listening to the memory of it, he realized something else about her voice. The depth of it – the darkness within it – wasn't at all normal. Hidden deep inside it, one would find themselves fearing her.

He looked back to the two, who were still at a standstill. Now he saw why Sasuke continued to stare and why she said nothing for the longest time. She was letting the fear wash over him as much as she could so that when they began to fight, he wouldn't be as distracted by it. She was trying to get it over with.

Looking at Sasuke, though, Kakashi could tell the fear would not disappear so quickly. It would take a while before he could hide it enough for her to hardly sense it.

Kakashi closed his eyes in thought. The moment she'd spoken to him, he remembered the chill that struck his spine for that one split second, but it had disappeared soon enough. Her lust to fight, however, had been so strong that she wasn't paying attention.

He also remembered her eyes clearly and how he was able to see them, even though she was soaked within the shadows. They were cold and dark, and looking into them while hearing her voice would only double the fear in a person. He then understood why she held the gaze, since Sasuke was unable to move away from it. She was truly desperate to lessen the fear.

'_She must have known of the fear she instilled within others for a long time,'_ he concluded. '_For her to know that for so long, it's no wonder she's so desperate to lessen it._'

· · ·

How had he ended up on the ground so fast?

Sasuke stood up with a mixture of emotions – anger, surprise, and a sensation of impression on the new opponent. The girl had ran at him as he ran at her and slammed her fist to his face with such speed, Sasuke thought he'd been struck by lightning.

"Never judge your opponent before a fight, Sasuke," Kakashi was heard saying as he turned a page in his book.

'_Thanks for the advice _now_,'_ Sasuke thought sarcastically.

The girl jumped in the air as Sasuke's kunai shot at her. Kakashi hadn't distracted her as he'd hoped he would. A handful of kunai shot in reply at him from the air, and he dodged effortlessly. Sasuke jumped into the air and barrages of punches and kicks were sent at each other, but not one hit their target. The two dropped to the ground, breathed once, and began attacking again.

The girl was the first to stop. Using the tree she'd backed into purposefully, she arched her arms back, taking a kick in the abdomen as though it were nothing, and then she pushed off the tree to kick Sasuke in the face. He rolled to the side of the lake, and the girl dropped to the ground, now sensing the splitting pain in her abdomen. "Speak your name," she told him croakily, standing up with a struggle. Her eyes were closed.

"Uchiha Sasuke. And you?" he asked in return with a smirk.

"Kuroinsei, only that," she answered with narrowed eyes, avoiding direct eye contact with him.

Within a second, the two shot at each other yet again. Sasuke continued to make a strike for her abdomen. Due to the blow she'd received earlier, he learned it was a weak point, but Kuroinsei had figured he would attempt such a daring move. Because of this, she went for every weak spot revealed as he attempted to hit her. When he realized that he would fail if he continued, he returned to assaulting her from every point to any point.

She was impressed with his line of thinking, but that didn't cause her moves to falter anymore than his. As he sent a blow to her exposed shoulder, she reached for his thigh, forgetting all dignity, and upon grabbing it, snatched his wrist in the process. She twirled around and swung him off into the lake. She drew out three shuriken for each hand and sent them hurtling towards him in the water.

Sasuke choked on the lake water that instantly entered his body, and he looked through its radiance only to see it disturbed by shuriken coming his way. The water slowed his movement, and he managed to dodge only two as the other four pierced his knees. He felt the stinging pain and saw the blood accumulate from his skin into the aqua. She was not natural. Or at least, her techniques weren't. Normal shuriken wouldn't have penetrated the water's impeding effects that easily, but those shuriken had.

He drew out two kunai, acting on sheer hope that his theory was right. Twirling them on his middle fingers he shot them out of the water, aiming for the Chakra he could see after activating the Sharingan for a short moment. As he desperately swam to the top in order to circulate air back in his lungs, he learned it had worked. The kunai had hit her dead-on in the shins.

Kuroinsei recoiled in pain and drew out his two kunai angrily. She was furious, but her anger could not overpower how awed she was with him. He'd figured out her shuriken had cut through the water with a special Jutsu that was sealed in them and that if he sent his own throwing weapons at her, they'd come at her with the same force as if they hadn't been hindered by the water.

Gasping for breath, he watched Kuroinsei tear the kunai from her shins with wide eyes. He couldn't believe how she so relentlessly went on, even when she was bleeding and injured. Of course – he managed a smirk - he did the same thing.

He jumped out of the water and ran towards her, thinking she was distracted, but he was dead wrong. Just as he sent his foot towards her face, she sent a fist to his gut. He slammed his elbow at the back of her head, and her upper body pelted the short distance to the ground.

She just managed to avoid any breaks in her neck from the force by throwing her arms out in front of her to break the fall, and then she threw her legs into Sasuke's face. She felt blood from his nose run through her toes as he backed away to regain his composure. He then remembered the shuriken, and upon that thought, he drew them from his knees without her noticing.

Upon what she thought was him trying to regain his composure from the blow, she ran towards him again. At the last second, he threw his fists out to claw into her sides with her shuriken. She felt her body shrink back in pain, but she quickly ignored it. She knocked up her knee and hit his chin, forcing him off of her.

He let go of the shuriken as he skid backwards, his face looking heavenward as his nose bled and his jaw ached. He had to catch her off guard again, and so he came to a halt and threw his hands together. His hands signed furious hand seals, and then he screamed, "_Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu_!"

His fireball was sent hurtling towards her, and she only had seconds to dodge it. She managed by an inch, and she stared at him from above. It was time for her to crack down, and she knew it.

Using the shadows to her advantage, she soaked into them, leaving Sasuke to look into every direction for her. Within the confines of shadows, she preformed a set of hand seals. "_Kage Tsurukusa no Jutsu_!" A large shadow arose behind him and shaped into a vine. In a snap, it had elongated and wrapped around the boy.

He was taken by surprise, but not for long. He preformed his own set of hand seals best he could within the shadow-vine's grasp. The giant fireball he'd blown out attacked the shadow-vine's roots, and he was released.

Kuroinsei cringed; she had hoped he would have been held a little longer. She was going to have to be more careful with her Jutsu if she were going to beat him.

Sasuke carefully scanned the premises; she was still hidden in the shadows. He could only hope that she would use another Jutsu so he could pin her location.

'_Any Jutsu I use will reveal my location now. He's really skilled; more so than I'd expected… There has to be something I can do. There's just _got_ to be something…'_ Suddenly, she learned of an advantage.

Sasuke began to grow impatient, even though he knew he shouldn't. She was taking too long, so she must have thought of a plan.

His head turned at the slightest sound. It had come from the lake. '_Of course!_' He jumped into the air and performed a set of hand seals again. "_Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu_!"

As he concentrated his Chakra into his Jutsu, Kuroinsei took her action. She exited the shadows and slammed the heel of her foot into his face. The fire dispersed as he plummeted in a series of twirls to the ground. Keeping up the assault, she followed, and before he hit the earth beneath him, she kicked him into the air again. With him vulnerably flying through mid-air, she struck him with crushing punches.

Sasuke struggled to regain the upper hand. The moment he ceased spinning nauseatingly, he had been an inches' length away from a tree. He focused his Chakra to his feet so he could grab and touch it, and then he hurled around and replied to her strikes with his very own. She was sent to the ground, and he pulled off his fireball technique once again. She quickly rolled out of the way, just barely missing the singing fire. Then she jumped back up to meet him the instant his Jutsu ended. Before they realized it, they'd completely reverted to nothing but physical combat once more to preserve their energy.

For five long and persistent hours, the two fought, scarcely making any progress. It had gotten so intense, that even Kakashi closed his book just to watch.

It was when Naruto and Sakura found their sensei when the fighting was interrupted…

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screamed in horror. "What's going on, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Morning," he greeted, standing up. "This girl's been fighting with Sasuke for…about…" He took a moment to think. "…five hours."

"_But why_?" Sakura cried. '_Oooh, if she hurts Sasuke-kun…'_ thought the Inner-Sakura.

"I don't know," he answered wistfully; he obviously hadn't really thought about that at all. "She just came up to me this morning and asked to fight my strongest fighter."

"What?" Naruto screamed resentfully.

Finally, Sasuke and Kuroinsei slid to a halt after the long series of blows that did not hit their preferred targets. Kuroinsei snarled, dropping her kunai into her holster. "Hey, girl! Why don't you fight me?" Naruto demanded, pointing a finger at her and his opposite thumb at himself.

She looked not at Naruto, but at Sasuke. "I'll return, and when I do, I will have much honor in fighting you," she said to him in her dark voice, which caused Sakura to become eerily silent and look utterly terrified for a moment. Sasuke didn't say anything in return, keeping his face impassive, though his eyes gave away the fear he'd received from hearing her voice clearly. He nodded firmly.

Within seconds, she'd disappeared into the trees. "What an interesting young girl," Kakashi mused.

"Interesting! She didn't even look at me! Why does she want to fight Sasuke? I'm going to be the Hokage!" Naruto whined loudly.

Recovering from the sudden chill of terror she'd had, Sakura hurried over to Sasuke and asked, "Sasuke-kun, are you okay?"

Sasuke turned and walked away, not paying any attention to Sakura – like always…

· · ·

"Hey Kuroinsei-chan," a childish voice called from a tree. "Where have you been?"

"Akamori-san. Where is Ichihashi-sensei?" she asked the girl hidden by the tree, avoiding the question.

A girl with short and spiky flaming red hair hung upside-down in the tree. Her right set of bangs were just like Kuroinsei's, though they curled in, but hanging upside-down didn't show the difference that well. She wore a yellow tank-top shirt with a scroll pouch sewn in on each side and one on the back, and across her right shoulder was a black sash with the Konoha hitai-ate plate. She wore black pants, a brown scroll pouch was worn like a shuriken holster on her each leg, and her sandaru were a matching brown.

"She's still training. Either she's not found the pellet or she's still burning off the steam from yesterday," the girl answered, a devious smirk dancing across her face.

"Probably both," Kuroinsei told her twin as she started towards the shadows and lifted off her shirt.

"So where have you been?" she asked again.

Kuroinsei rolled her eyes but continued to change her bloodstained clothes. "That's none of your business."

"All right." She shrugged carelessly. "Well, with you back, I can go about my business, so…" Akamori jumped out of the tree and rubbed her hands together artfully, "farewell." The girl leaped off into the denser parts of the forest.

"You do that," Kuroinsei said to no one, and she began to warm-up for more training directly after she slipped into her second pair of clothes.

For those of you who do not know the Jutsu (Techniques) used, a guide will be released at the end of every chapter with the direct translations and a brief explanation. It will also help with the Jutsu I have created. If it does not say Canon at the end, it belongs to me, unless otherwise stated.

_**Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu**__ – Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique_ – A Fire Ninjutsu that requires a lot of Chakra that Genin are not supposed to be capable of. This technique is a specialty of the Uchiha clan, which Sasuke is from. – **[Canon**

_**Kage Tsurukusa no Jutsu**__ – Shadow Vine Technique_ – A Shadow Ninjutsu used frequently by Kuroinsei. This Jutsu requires a decent amount of shadows in order to work efficiently.


	3. Ikigai Ninja

**Acknowledgements/Dedications:**_My best friends, voices10 and DayinTynSane for their all-around support and help with this entire series. If not for them, my fanfiction would have been doomed, without a doubt._

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters of Kishimoto Masashi's "Naruto". I do not claim them as my own in the legal sense. All rights reserved and so on.

**Chapter Two: Ikigai Ninja**

Akamori sat cross-legged in a tree. She'd been there for about fifteen minutes, watching a boy with raven-black hair practice in silence. '_He's cool, and not bad looking,' _she thought, setting the side of her chin in her half-clenched hand._ 'But he's too brooding… And he's just too young…'_

Akamori sighed, let down, as she began to twirl the key chain ring around her thumb. '_If only he were thirteen years older…'_

Just then, a man with spiky silver hair, a hitai-ate of Konoha that covered his left eye, and a mask that covered half his face stepped on the scene. Akamori gasped as her eyes widened, and she stopped twirling the ring. '_By the looks of it he's twenty-five – no, twenty-six – and he's built very well. …Wow. What nice shoulders… He's laid-back and mysterious and _obviously_ a good ninja. …He really does have nice shoulders, and his hair's ridiculously awesome! To top off his perfect age, personality, and build, he is downright _hot_. And he has got some _really_ nice shoulders. He's perfect!'_

Ecstatic, Akamori jumped down from the tree and landed lightly on her feet. "Hello," the man said after blinking once in surprise at her sudden appearance.

"Hello, Sir," she said with a broad smile. '_And he's got the most captivating voice!'_

"_You_!" a boy with spiky blond hair cried as he pointed at her before she could say anything more. "You're back!"

For one split second, her eyes diverted to the boy with the loud mouth, and one word could cross her mind, '_Naruto-kun…'_ To cover up for her suspicious second, she cocked her head curiously. "Back? But, I've never seen any of you before…"

Naruto continued to point at her, his eyes flaring up angrily. He didn't believe her – or wouldn't believe her, for that matter – for a second. "Yeah right! You're the one who fought Sasuke and wouldn't fight me!"

"Fight? Sasuke? B-wait." After realizing the truth, she rolled her eyes and scoffed inwardly. '_So that's what she was doing.'_ "That'd be my obsessive sister – my twin, Kuroinsei-chan. I'm Akamori."

"Hm, who would have guessed," the man said thoughtfully in order to prevent Naruto from jumping onto the girl about lying and other such nonsense.

Sasuke looked at the girl with a furrowed brow. Suddenly, he asked, "How would you measure yourself?"

Akamori was shocked by the question, and she, too, furrowed her brow. "Pardon?"

"Compared to your sister, how would you measure yourself in battle?" he clarified.

"Oh. Compared to Kuroinsei-chan? I've never fought her personally before, but she's definitely stronger than I am," she answered with a small shrug. Sasuke gave a nod hardly visible to signify "oh".

"Just wondering: you and your twin both have hitai-ate of Konoha, but what are you doing in this forest?" Kakashi asked her curiously.

She rubbed the back of her head and grinned slightly. "Well, we are Leaf-nin, but we live outside of the village because our sensei isn't from Konoha. It's a tad difficult to explain. We're classified as _Ikigai Ninja_." Her grin grew a bit broader. "My twin and I train under our Jounin sister, Ichihashi." At the sound of the name, Kakashi felt an odd sensation of familiarity, but he brushed it off carelessly, knowing that happened whenever he heard pretty much any name. He was, after all, a well-known ninja who was approached quite often with new faces.

"If you don't mind my asking, who are you?"

"I'm Kakashi, and these are my students Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura," he introduced calmly, as though he had no problem with it at all. Akamori shot a second quick and surprised glance at Naruto upon his introduction only to have the chance to think to herself, '_So I was right'_, but then she quickly returned her attention to the Jounin.

"It's very nice to meet you. Well, I ought to get going before –"

"Before I find you?" an agitated, yet solemn, voice asked.

· · ·

'_So… These are the ninja Sandaime-sama has sent to check up on me? … From the looks of it, they _are_ quite promising… It has been so long since I have seen Naruto-kun… He's grown up worse than what I thought he would… I wonder why he sent a cell after me, though… It grows more and more intriguing…_

'_But it seems Akamori-chan finds them interesting… I have not seen her so happy in a long while…_ The spying figure suppressed a sigh. _It is all my fault, I guess… I should have left them in the village… Taken what I should have and run… I never should have done what I did to them…_

'_But still…'_ The figure looked upon the silver-haired Jounin. '_Akamori-chan seems to be taking a fancy to him the most at the moment…and I know she recognizes Naruto-kun… _

'_Perhaps this _can_ work out…'_ the figure suddenly thought, an inch of hope forming in their mind. '_The raven-haired boy is superior for ninja his age… He and Kuroinsei-chan are most definitely equals… And that girl with the broad forehead and pink hair, she has promise in wits… The way she is taking in the information that is being given… Naruto-kun will grow stronger in time, but I know he has determination… Even when he was so little, he was a stubborn little fool… And then there is that Jounin… His power is a mystery, but there is no doubt it is first-class._

'_Perhaps…Perhaps this really can work out… Maybe I won't have to run anymore… Maybe they _can_ help… Maybe, just maybe, I can return them to a normal life where there will be no more secrets…no more running… Perhaps… They are just what I need…'_

· · ·

"Eep!" Akamori screeched and jumped up in the air much like a cricket. "Sensei!"

A young woman, about twenty-five years of age, stepped out into view – her posture, erect, military-like. She had long black hair with red growing out on top, but the entire layer was styled towards the front like bangs. A long scar also ran over her left eye, which was closed shut, and down the rest of her face and her throat, the beginning covered by her hitai-ate and the end covered by her slate gray tank-top shirt with a hood. She also sported a scar across each bicep. She had bandages wrapped around each forearm to her fingers, and her pants were dark blue with a brown shuriken holster propped up on her right thigh and matching sandaru. A slight ghostliness danced across her features, and her skin was a pale, midnight moon color, whereas the twins' skin tone was much peachier and livelier. "Akamori," she said with a snap. "What are you up to this time?"

"Nothing, Sensei," Akamori answered without turning to her sister-sensei's glaring, midnight-sky eye. "I apologize for interrupting with my presence," she told Kakashi and his students with a wily smirk at the ground as her gold and blue eyes lit up.

She rolled her eye at the girl, but her gaze softened up a little. "All right. Return to your sister," the Jounin told her younger sister.

Akamori walked past her sensei silently and vanished from sight. Kakashi stepped forward in front of Ichihashi as the small girl left from view. "You must be Ichihashi," he said casually. "I'm Kakashi."

She nodded impassively and replied, "I see…" For some reason, she couldn't find herself to like the man standing before her at all. In fact, she felt as though she despised him completely.

He placed his hand behind his head and his other out in front of him to shake hers. A small, nervous chuckle resonated in his throat. "I'd really like to get to know you…" he said, desperate to say something more to sound kind.

She glanced at his hand for a moment, and then looked him in the eye. "And, frankly, I would really like it if you would jump off a cliff," she replied bluntly. With that dark and couldn't-care-less remark, she turned around and disappeared into the forest.

· · ·

"Akamori, what on earth did you think you were doing?" Ichihashi asked sharply.

"But Kuroinsei-chan left last night and didn't come back until five hours later," the spiky, red-haired girl complained melodramatically.

"Kuroinsei," Ichihashi called. Immediately, the long-haired twin appeared beside her sister. "Is what your sister said, true?"

"Yes," Kuroinsei answered honestly.

"And why were you out so late?"

She said after a reluctant pause, "I was following a calling."

"And what calling was that?"

"To fight the best ninja in their group, which was the Uchiha boy, Sasuke-san."

Ichihashi stared her sister down, suppressing the shock she heard upon the clan name with skilled acting. Her decision was going to be well thought-out, making Kuroinsei have to bore into her midnight orb until it was made. "All right, but remember why you aren't to go wandering off…" she said slowly and carefully.

"Now, Akamori, what's your excuse?"

"I was following a calling, too," she answered calmly.

Ichihashi arched her eyebrow disbelievingly. "Oh?"

"Yes. A calling of friendship," she said happily.

Ichihashi sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose after rolling her eyes. "Akamori…"

Annoyed, she finally gave in, "I'll let the two of you off the hook this once just so we can begin training…"

"Yes Ichihashi-sensei," the twins said together like young soldiers.

· · ·

Kakashi finally managed to get away from his students after Ichihashi left. Sakura had continued to go on about how rude she'd been, but Kakashi had said nothing. He didn't know what he could say. It was, after all, the first time he had ever been told to jump off a cliff, especially by a woman upon their first meeting. He had every right to be shocked and just a little bit confused.

He shook his head once he realized how long he'd been thinking of her. He took out the paper he'd written notes on Kuroinsei and began to write on Akamori and Ichihashi.

_Akamori_

_Age: 13_

_Genin_

_Gold eyes with blue pupils_

_Flaming red hair_

He made a note that she was Kuroinsei's twin.

_Ichihashi_

_Age: 20's_

_Jounin_

_Midnight blue eyes – Left eye closed shut by long scar_

_Black and red hair_

He thought first of Akamori. She was the complete opposite of Kuroinsei. She didn't cause fear; in fact, she was pleasant to be around. Her voice was calm and fluent, active with a carefree happiness. It was a voice within the throat, if not slightly nasal, though it was nowhere near as deep as Kuroinsei's. Her eyes, also, were bright and lively. She was sweet, and he'd only met her for five minutes. Even Sasuke had relaxed some around her.

Then, there was Ichihashi. Her way of speaking was formal, intelligent, and mature. She was entirely militaristic, and she certainly was blunt. Kakashi couldn't pin her as rude, however, so he decided to leave it at protective.

He set his face in his hand as he thought. '_But was she being protective as a sister or as an enemy?'_ he wondered.

'_No.'_

He blinked. '_That was an abrupt thought.'_ But yet, he couldn't help but feel it was true. Something about her – perhaps the way she looked at Akamori – caused him to believe she was not the danger. But he couldn't just pin her as innocent right off the bat.

'_No.'_

Kakashi stared off in the distance, though he didn't focus on whatever it was. He didn't know what to think. Never before had he disagreed with himself so absentmindedly. He was instantly reminded of the photo he'd found a week prior.

The photo that was sitting on his lap at that very moment.

Kakashi stared in realizing he'd taken it out. Could this woman be related to the photo?

"Ichihashi," he muttered, his eyebrow furrowing curiously.

* * *

_**Ikigai Ninja: **_Ninja Outside of the Village

**Bridge Between Time has a webpage!!! If you're interested in this series, you might want to check out the deviantArt account I have set out specifically for this entire four-part series. The account name on deviantArt is bridge-between-time. Simple enough. Please, please, take a look. It's not just writing there. I have drawn a good deal for it as well. However, there are a few spoilers, but it's not enough to give away my entire plot. So please check BBT's dA page!!!**


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